The Prime Minister- in an uncharacteristic fit of authoritarianism (but perhaps there are more on the way)- asked Facebook to take down its Raoul Moat tribute sites. Facebook, I'm happy to say, replied, "No can do," with the unwritten sub-text, "Who the hell do you think you are?"

The Moat affair has revealed (as if we didn't know) that there are a lot of alienated people in our society who hate all authority and especially the police. We may be deeply upset that they feel that way, but shutting down their forum is hardly going to make them change their minds.

I think Cameron is operating from populism, not authoritarianism. Either way, he is affecting complete ignorance of how social networking sites actually function. Which may be populist again, in its own way.

As Mark Lawson said this morning, the Moat case is basically a local crime story that has been blown up out of all proportion by the presence of TV cameras.

Yes, Blair would have done the same- and Cameron is following his (very bad) example. A Prime Minister doesn't need to get drawn into every passing, headline grabbing story. He has other better things to do. The policing of online Networking sites is really none of his business.